Walking appliance



March 26, 1940. cs. MILLER WALKING APPLIANCE Filed March 29, 1959 Ht'tEIT'TIEH'EI Patented Mar. 26, 1940 v I WALKING APPLIANCE George Miller, Sheboygan, Wis.

i 3 Claims.

This invention appertains to appliances for facilitating the walking of elderly persons or persons suffering from leg or other injuries.

One of the primaryobjects of my invention is to provide a walking stick, cane, crutch, or similar device having a novel base for engaging over a relatively wide area of ground, whereby the danger of the device slipping is reduced to a min- Another salient object of my invention is to provide a cane or crutch having a'novel tripod base for its lower end, whereby the weight of a person will be eifectively distributed over a relatively wide area of ground surface, and whereby danger of the cane or crutch slipping is practically eliminated;

A further object of my inventionis to provide a walking cane embodying a pair of spaced side rail members braced at spaced points terminating in ground-engaging feet, with a third leg or foot carried by one of the braces and disposed between the siderails, and a handle carried by the upper end of the side rails.

A further important object of my invention is the provision of means wherebythe handle can be effectively elevated and held in a desired position, whereby the cane can be used as a crutch, in which instance the handle forms the shoulder support, and one of the braces a hand grip.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a device of the above character, which will be durable and efiicient in use, one that will be simple andeasy to manufacture, and one which can be placed upon the market at a reasonable cost.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in the novel construction, arrangement, and formation of parts, as will be hereinafter more specifically described, claimed, and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which drawing:

Figure 1 is a front elevational view of my improved device, showing parts thereof broken away and in section to illustrate structural detail.

Figure 2 is a central, vertical, sectional view through the improved appliance, taken on the line 22 of Figure 1, looking in the direction of o the arrows.

Figure 3 is'a horizontal, sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 1, looking in the direc-' Application March 29, 1939, Serial No. 264,728

letterD generally indicates my improved walkingdevice, and the same embodies a pairof spaced siderails 5 and 6. These rails are preferably formed' of hollow construction, and, thus, the rails can be formed from tubes, if such should be desired.

The rails adjacent their upperend's are connected by a hollow tubular cross-brace l, and at a point intermediate their ends, by a cross-brace 8. If preferred, the rails can have their upper portions arranged in parallel relation, but it is proposed to have their lower ends diverging in opposite directions to provide supporting legs 9 and I6. These diverging legs 9 and I0 can carry at their lower terminals ground-engaging feet ll. These: feet can be formed from rubber, if preferred. I

Arranged between the legs 9 and I0 is a third supporting leg l2. This leg is firmly connected to the cross-brace 8, and. its lower end terminatesin a ground-engaging foot H, which can also be formed from rubber or similar material. It is to be noted'that the leg l2 angles outwardly fromthe legs 9 and m, and, thus, the legs 9, I0, and I2 form a tripod to support the device. These three legs forming the tripod prevent the accidental slipping of the device and give a large bearing surface, whereby the weight of the user will bedistributed overa relatively wide area.

If the device is to be used as a cane alone, the

- upper ends ofjthe hollow side rails 5 and 6 can terminate at the desired height and can be connected by any preferred'handle construction. It is proposed, however, to construct the device in such a manner that the same can be either used as a caneor as a crutch at the pleasure of the user.

To carry out this feature of my invention, the hollow rails 5 and 6 slidably and telescopically receive spaced side bars l4 and !5. The upper ends of the side bars M and it are connected together by the handle it. The handle is provided with any desired character of hand grip. The bars M and 95 are held in-their selected adjusted' position in the hollow rails 5 and 6 by, means of set screws H. The set screws are threaded into the side rails, and the same im-'- pinge against the outer surfaceof the bars. If preferred, the bars can be: indented at spaced points, so that the inner ends of the screws can fit therein. c

When the device is being used as a crutch and the bars land-l5 are raised to an elevated position, as shown in dotted lines in Figure 1, then the handle it constitutes a shoulder support, and

the upper brace I then forms the hand grip. Obviously, the handle Hi can be modified in various manners, so that the same can form a small seat or rest to enable persons to sit to view athletic or similar events. i

From the foregoing description it can be seen that I have provided a novel walking appliance which will be especially useful for crippled persons or persons sufiering from leg or other injuries.

Changes in details may be made without departing from the spirit or the scope of my invention, but What I claim as new is:

1. A walking appliance comprising, a pair of lower ends of the side rails, spaced upper and lower braces connecting theside rails together, a handle carried by the upper ends of the side rails, a third leg arranged between the first mentioned legs and. carried by the lower brace, said third leg angling outwardly from the first mentioned legs, and ground-engaging feet on the lower ends of all of said legs.

3. A walking appliance comprising, a pair of side rails, upper and lower cross-braces connecting said rails together, diverging legs formed on the terminals of the side rails, an outwardly angled third leg connected to the lower cross brace, ground-engaging feet on the lower ends of the legs, side bars adjustably connected to the side rails, a combined shoulder support and hand grip connecting the upper ends of the side bars, meansadjustably holding the side bars in a raised position to form a crutch, or in a lowered position to form a cane, the upper cross brace forming a handle when the side bars are in a raised position to form a crutch.

GEORGE MILLER..- 

